Shoe manufacture



H. A. EVANS SHOE MANUFACTURE Filed Jan. 29. 1926 Mayl, 1928.

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s itse f to the stretch given the upper diflicultiesby providing 7 a slight reinforcement for Patented May 1, 1928,

1 UNITED STA HAROLD A. EVAN'S, OF LYNN, MASSACHUS ETTS, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS,

'10 PABOOSPEOIALTY C9,, 0] LYNN, MASSACHUSETTS, A CORPORATION 01' IABSA- OEUBI'ITB.

snonmurac'ruan.

Application filed January 29, 1926. Serial No. 84,808.

- 0 either of these forms is practically inelastic;

when in accordance with ordi nary practice, it is adhesively secured to a portion of an upper,cthe tape is often not ada ted to yield sufficiently to accomngodalte y t e lasting operation and therefore it has a tendency-to jdraw away from the leather portion of the shoe and to form undesirable bunches upon the inner side of the shoe, 20" thus de riving the shoe of the reinforcing effect 0 the tape.

When reinforcing tape of this type is to consequently,

be given any considerable transverse curvature in its own plane it has been necessary as to cut or overlap portions of the tape, since otherwise its inelasticity would prevent its being secured in close relation to the surface of the leather, and, if the ta e was not arran ed in this manner, one 0 its edges woul tend to pull away from the leather and to wrinkle or fold. The present invention is designed to obviate the foregoing a reinforcing tape which possesses a degree of elasticity which maybe similar to the elasticity of the leather itself and which will thus enable it readily to conform to the lasting operation and also permit it to remain in close contacting relation. with the surface of the leather, although having been given a considerable transverse curvature in its own planaw v In the practical embodiment of my invention the elasticity ,of'the tape as prepared "may be-varied'within fairly wide limits. If. the tape is too yieldable it will form but the upper, while ifiit is comparatively inelastic, it will tend to. 'bunch"and draw away from the lasted portionof. the-upper, as has been described. 'However, if the. tape is rovided. with a degree-pf, elasticity .somew 919 similar to that i of the-"upper'i if, it has been found to be tape for this purpose.

Such tape is a reinforcing satisfactory in use constituting suitable remforcin means for any portion of the shoe to whic it is applied and being flexible enough to follow the curved edges of the reinforced portions. In attempting to obtain tape having such qualities I have found that tape cut u on a biasto' the warp and weft of the abric and prestretched before use, afiords a suitable degree of elasticity. If, for-example, a strip of material which has been cut on the bias is stretched a moderate amount, it will have little or no elasticity or tendency to return to its original form. However. after it has beenstretched to a still greater extent, it is found to possess a quite appreciable degree of permanent elasticity, which may be varied Within certain limits.

. Furthermore by cutting the tape out at a bias to the fabricand leaving-its edges unfinished with free severed ends of the thread exposed and pre-stretched before use, a tape is obtained which is especially adapted to transverse bending in its one plane without wrinkling or folding while at the same time having a degree of elasticity comparable to that of leather. 4 5

The present invention therefore concerns the provision of tape of this t combinationlwith portions 0 up er. I

n the drawings, Fig. 1 is an elevational view of a portion of a band used for forming the improved ty e of tape. p

ig. 2 is a similar view of a ortion of the band after it has been stretc ed;

Fig. 3 is a view of a sectionof the .band out into tape;

Fig.I 4 shows a shoe vamp with the improved binding tape aifined thereto; and

Fig. 5 is a side elevation of a shoe, showing in dotted lines the upper edge of the shoe reinforced bythe tape.

In order to provide reinforcing tape having a desirable degree of elasticity for the purpose designated above, I prefer to take a band 1 of woven material which will have its width equal to the width of a number of separate tapes and have its warp and web diagonally disposed in relation to its edges so elasticity.

the shoe e and its that it possesses a rather high degree of twill, lawn or similar fabrics such as are ordinarily used for reinforcin tape. To

obtain this band a wide piece 0 fabric hav-,

ing its edges selvaged is cut into a series of diagonal strips, the selvaged. ends of these strips being sewed to each other to form the long continuous band 1, which may be con-- vemently rolled. The selvaged ends of the .ing of t is pre-stretc ed bias reinforcing tape, it has been found preferable to cut the diagonal sections from unsized fabric, then sew these diagonal strips together Son the selvaged edges, thus forming a wide band of any desired length, as for instance 500 or 1000 yards. The-wide'web thus formed is then" passed through a sizing bath and thence through a calender machine with multiple heated rolls. While placing a drag or tension on the dryin fabric which has left the massaging bath t e operation of the multiple rolls of the calender machine takes all of the longitudinal stretch out of the web which thus leaves the calender machine dry, smoothly ironed and thoroughly pre-- stretched,- retaining only the amount of a and the elasticity desired.

This pre-stretching operation has'the effect of vshrinking the band in width, as for instance a biased band 54 inches wide may be reduced to approximately 36 inches in width re-stretchin drawing t e right ang ed weave into a diagonal form in the manner illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawings, thus'the gain in length from the pre-stretching o. eration being much less proportionally t an the shrinkage in width and the thickness of the cloth being increased. The sizing bath contributes to the stretching operation because the fabric is wet when stretched, and also has a desirable eifect of setting the bias stitching on the selvage ed es which strengthens the stitching to hol the joints in the narrow tape as afterwards out and also prevents the selvage edges from projecting from the fabric.

It is to be understood that the tape may be stretched in separate stri s rather than being cut from a wide band which has been stretched in the manner described. Such a method, however, has the disadvantage of tending to break away thread ends at the edges of the tape. a

has the effect of Reinforcing tape of this type is applied to the leather portions'of the upper by the use of cement. Plastic or semi-moist cement of the type which remains plastic indefinitely and is susceptible of use without the application of heat or moisture is preferable in this location and therefore after the tape has been prepared as indicated above, I propose to run it through suitable apparatus for the application of plastic cement to one of its faces. However, if desired the tape' may be passed through a machine for ap lying cement thereto and for stretching t e tape at the same time or in consecutive operations.

The tape is then ready to be applied to portions of shoe uppers such as a vamp 3 having a curved edge 4, said curvature belng in the plane of the leather. The tape is adapted to be adhesively aflixed to the edge of the vamp,-to have all portions of its adhesive surface in intimate contact with the marginal portion of the vamp closely parallel to the curved edge 4., and to flex in acvam during lasting.

-- Fig. 5 illustrates the use of tape of this type in another location, the tape ibeing shown as reinforcing the upper margin of a shoe or slipper 6. This tape may also be used in many other analogous locations in accordance with the cut and design of the particular shoe, slipper or the like.

While tape prepared and applied to the arrangements of steps in the pre aration of reinforced shoe uppers are regar ed as within the purview of this invention. For ex-' cordanee with the shape imparted to the D .shoe portions in the manner described is preferred, obvious modifications and optional,

narily been found useful, or in fact in other A locatlons where the lack of elasticity and cqnformability in ordinary tape has previously been an obstacle to its satisfactory use.

I claim: 1. Reinforcing tape for a portion of a shoe upper, comprising a fabric strip formed with its warp and weft diagonally disposed in relation to its edges. and being pre-stretched to give it a degiee of elasticity similar to that of the upper.

2. The combination of a portion of a shoe upper and a woven r orcing tape adhe-- sively secured thereto, said tape being out and pre-stretched on the bias to have a degree of elasticity similar to that of the up p 3. The combination of a leather portion of a shoe upper having an edge curved in the plane of the leather and a pre-stretched bias reinforcing tape adhesively secured thereto, said tape being provided with a degree of elasticity permitting its application in flat contacting relation with the margin of said upper portion adjacent to and substantially parallel to said curved edge.

4. Reinforcing tape for a shoe upper comprising a strip of woven fabric with its warp and weft diagonally disposed in relation to its edges, said tape being prestretched and having a coat of plastic cement applied to one of its sides.

5. The method of preparing reinforcing tape for a shoe upper, comprising the cutting of a band of woven fabric with its edges diagonally disposed in relation to the warp and weft of the fabric, stretching the band to give it the desired degree of elasticity, and cut-ting it into a plurality of parallel ,strips and applying plastic cement to one HAROLD A. EVANS.

by me at Boston, Massachusetts, 

